INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler baseball team improved to 12-2 on the year with an 8-7 victory against Fort Wayne on Sunday afternoon. Kevin Napoleon entered the game in the top of the ninth inning to record his first save of the season. The win went to Connor Schultz.
 
Schultz and Napoleon came up big when their number was called by head coach Dave Schrage. Schultz tossed 4.2 innings out of the pen to get his second win of the season. He only allowed one hit while on the mound and struck out four.
 
The top of the ninth got very interesting for fans at Bulldog Park with Fort Wayne pushing three runs across in the frame to pull within one run. Jack Pilcher was removed from the game after recording two outs. Left-hander Kevin Napoleon would bring BU home by getting a ground out to short.
 
Butler scored first with Connor Dall and Garrett Christman each hitting doubles in the second inning. Dall led off with a double to left and Christman would score Dall with his double to right.
 
Fort Wayne responded with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to grab a 4-1 advantage. Butler chipped away with a run in the fourth and the fifth, but the bottom of the sixth inning would tell the story.
 
Tyler Houston cleared the bases with a double to leftfield that scored Zach Jarosz, Harrison Freed and Christman. Fort Wayne would change pitchers after the momentum shift, but Houston was still able to cross home plate off a single from Gehrig Parker.
 
Houston ended the game 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored. The team's hit leader was Christman who went 3-for-3 from the dish.
 
Butler's run in the fourth came from James Gargano who got on base with a double down the leftfield line. Michael Hartnagel doubled in the fifth to score Houston and the last BU run of the game came off a sac fly to left from pinch hitter Andy Bennett.
 
Midweek contests for BU include a trip to Northern Kentucky on Tuesday and a home tilt vs. Ball State on Wednesday.